Notice2025-17878
Notice of Inventory Completion: Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 16, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Mercyhurst University has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 177 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44703-44704]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17878]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6538; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041086; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Mercyhurst University has completed an
inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has
determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human
remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native
Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary
objects in this notice may occur on or after October 16, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
and associated funerary objects in this notice to Anne Marjenin,
Mercyhurst University, 501 East 38th Street, Erie, PA 16546, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#deb0bfb9aeacbf9eb3bbacbda7b6abacadaaf0bbbaab"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9ff1fef8efedfedff2faedfce6f7eaedecebb1fafbea">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA.
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of
Mercyhurst University, and additional information on the determinations
in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in
its inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not
responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
Human remains representing, at least, four individuals have been
identified. The one associated funerary object is unmodified faunal
remains (one tooth). The individuals were removed from a location, or
from multiple locations near Milan, Ohio. Milan is in Erie County and
Huron County. The individuals and associated funerary object were
likely removed by Raymond C. Vietzen (1907-1995) between the 1940s and
1990s near Milan in Erie County, Ohio. Vietzen, an avocational
archaeologist, collector, and author, established the Indian Ridge
Museum in Elyria, Ohio, and the Archaeological Society of Ohio
(formerly the Ohio Indian Relic Collectors Society). The Indian Ridge
Museum, founded in the 1930s, served as Vietzen's laboratory and
repository, and it remained in operation until the mid-1990s. After
Vietzen's death, the facility fell into disrepair, and most of the
items he had acquired and housed at the museum were sold. In 1998, the
Ohio Historical Society (presently the Ohio History Connection) removed
ancestral human remains and some of the remaining items from the
facility and temporarily housed them at the Ohio Historical Society. In
October of 2003, these remains were transferred from the Ohio
Historical Society to Mercyhurst College (presently Mercyhurst
University).
While there is no record regarding potentially hazardous substances
having been used to treat the human remains, tape, unidentified
adhesives, and an unidentified plaster or similar type of substance are
present. It is unknown when the tape, adhesives, and other substance
were applied. An unidentified adhesive was applied to the associated
funerary object. It is unknown when the adhesive was applied.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical
location or acquisition history of the human remains and associated
funerary object described in this notice.
Determinations
Mercyhurst University has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of four individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> The one object described in this notice is reasonably
believed to have been placed intentionally with or near individual
human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite
or ceremony.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains and
associated funerary object described in this notice and the Absentee-
Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Bad River Band of the Lake
Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation,
Wisconsin; Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan; Cayuga Nation;
Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana; Citizen
Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe
of Indians; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Forest County Potawatomi
Community, Wisconsin; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa
Indians, Michigan; Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan; Kaw Nation,
Oklahoma; Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan; Lac Courte Oreilles
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Lac du Flambeau
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau
Reservation of Wisconsin; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa Indians of Michigan; Little River Band of Ottawa Indians,
Michigan; Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana; Little
Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish
Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma;
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota (Six component reservations: Bois
Forte Band (Nett Lake); Fond du Lac Band; Grand Portage Band; Leech
Lake Band; Mille Lacs Band; White Earth Band); Nottawaseppi Huron Band
of the Potawatomi, Michigan; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Oneida Indian
Nation; Oneida Nation; Onondaga Nation; Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma;
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana; Ponca Tribe
of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; Prairie Band
Potawatomi Nation; Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of
Wisconsin; Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota; Saginaw
Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan; Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe; Sault Ste.
Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Seneca Nation of Indians;
Seneca-Cayuga Nation; Shawnee Tribe; Sokaogon Chippewa Community,
Wisconsin; St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Tonawanda Band of
Seneca; Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota;
Tuscarora Nation; and the Wyandotte Nation.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the
authorized representative identified in this notice under ADDRESSES.
Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:
1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations identified in this notice.
[[Page 44704]]
2. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian
organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a
preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal
descendant or an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation.
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after October
16, 2025. If competing requests for repatriation are received,
Mercyhurst University must determine the most appropriate requestor
prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human
remains and associated funerary objects are considered a single request
and not competing requests. Mercyhurst University is responsible for
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations identified in this notice and any other consulting
parties.
(Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.)
Dated: September 4, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-17878 Filed 9-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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